Military Monday – Frederick Espley (1881-1916)

Frederick served in the 2nd Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment. His service number was 9965 and he achieved the rank of Sergeant Major.

He was killed in action on 28 November 1916 serving in India.

Frederick is commemorated on the Madras 1914-1918 War Memorial at Chennai, India. He is also commemorated on the war memorial in Tadcaster (Yorkshire, England). I believe that Frederick had moved to the Tadcaster area sometime after he married.

Chennai War Memorial

The memorial is in the Madras War Cemetery. It bears the names of more than 1000 servicemen who died during the First World War and lie in many civil and cantonment cemeteries in various parts of India where it is not possible to maintain their graves in perpetuity.

The Madras War Cemetery was created to receive Second World War graves from many civil and cantonment cemeteries in the south and east of India where their permanent maintenance could not be assured. The cemetery contains 856 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War. (Information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website)